Chapter Twenty-Six

All Talk and not Enough Action

"Daddy, Daddy," Leia called looking for her father. "Master Kenobi," she called through the hallways. She had to talk to a Jedi. Her cousins, her aunt, her mother, and her grandparents wouldn't understand. They couldn't feel the force. Daddy and Uncle Master Kenobi would.

Anakin turned in their bed to find his angel sleeping. He sighed as he touched her dark hair with his left arm. She really was like the angels he had heard about so long ago. The most beautiful creatures in the galaxy. Motherhood had made her even lovelier, she looked peaceful. He touched her soft creamy skin, every day he found it hard to believe that he was still with her after all he had done. Just to look and her and touched her sent her eyelids fluttering. Anakin hated the moment when she would wake up. The moment he would have to tell her that Palpatine, the Emperor, was alive and had their son.

Luckily, as Padame was waking up as he was planning on telling her how a Storm Trooper had stolen their son, Leia came in. "Daddy," she said.

"Shh. Your mother is sleeping," he said, as Padame opened her eyes.

"Oh, Leia, I'm not sleeping."

"I saw you were," Anakin said, leaning down and kissing her lips softly. "Rest, Angel."

Anakin grabbed Leia's hand and they walked around the gardens of his in-laws palace. "What is it, princess?" he asked her.

"Daddy, I talked to Luke. Where is he?"

She talked to Luke. Anakin closed his eyes, trying to communicate with his son, but he was being blocked. He was met with mental blocks; his son was keeping him out. It was like hitting his head against a brick wall. He couldn't believe it. How did Luke even know how to put up those walls? It was something Anakin had had to learn when he married Padame so that Obi-Wan wouldn't know when he thought of her. Luke should not know how. Palpatine. He had taught him. Why had he put up the walls around him and not Leia? "What did he say, princess?" he asked his daughter.

"He said he was with his master," Leia said, proud to have remembered.

Anakin frowned, "He doesn't have a master."

Leia frowned as she watched her father's face go taunt. It was as hard as a brick; she could feel the anger coming off him in waves. He wasn't just angry but he was hurt, very hurt. He spoke again. "Go play with your cousins," he told her. She looked back at her father, and she knew he was hurting. She followed him and watched as he stood there and meditated until the anger and the hurt were only shadows of their former selves.

"Leia, what did I tell you?"

"I know, Daddy."

"Well, why are you still here, princess?"

"Watching you."

"Go play, and tell me if you hear from your brother."

"Okay."

Leia took the hint, and ran off to her cousins. Pooja was sitting there trying to reach the cookies. "Use your magic, Leia. Get the cookies. We won't tell."

"But Daddy will know," Leia said.

"We won't tell."

"You don't have to tell my daddy."

"Do you always listen to your daddy?"

"No."

"Yes, you do."

"Do not."

"You do too."

"Do not."

"Prove it."

Leia moved the cookie jar until it was in her hands, only to have it snatched by her cousin.

Meanwhile, Anakin and Obi-Wan were walking in the gardens.

"Anakin, I'm so sorry. This is what we feared all along."

"I'm afraid that the Emperor now knows about Leia, Master," he said.

"I don't think Leia matters now that the Emperor has Luke calling him Master. What's wrong, Anakin?"

"Besides the fact that the Emperor has my son, my wife is going to hate me when she finds out. Oh, and there's the little fact that my son has put up barriers between our communication."

"Really, Anakin? Already. Well, that says a lot for his skill, and control, which was more than you had."

"Thanks a lot, Master. You are really helping. You do realize this is going to destroy Padame."

"You haven't told her yet."

"No. Leia came in right as she woke up."

"Well, we all know you never sleep. You haven't slept well since you were fifteen years old."

"I realize that, Master Obi-Wan."

"It's the nightmares again, isn't it?"

"You know me too well, Master," Anakin replied with a slight smirk.

"Tell me, Anakin."

"Master, when Qui-Gon sent me twenty years into the future I was Darth Vader. I could feel the dark side..."

"You aren't going to start blaming yourself again. I've told you you have nothing to feel guilty about," Obi-Wan said, beginning an old lecture.

"No, it's not that. When I watched Darth Vader, Luke was good. The Emperor was attacking Luke with Force Lightning. I pulled out my light saber but Darth Vader killed Palpatine. I just wonder if I changed history, or the future. If it changed Luke."

Obi-Wan stared at the skies of Naboo. "Perhaps your right, Anakin by you turning on the Emperor he had to find a new apprentice. His anger at losing you as that apprentice made him desire revenge. What better revenge that your son. He has a few hundred less midi-clorians than you do. I checked them myself. He and Leia have the exact same amount. He wants revenge. It's not your fault, Anakin; you've done the right thing. We did all that we could. We hid Leia away until the death of Jabba the Hutt. We hid Luke away with the Lars. We've done a lot of good. We will get your son back."

"I just don't know what telling Padame will do to her."

"Don't tell her. Send your droid," Obi-Wan suggested with a hint of a smile, he knew what was coming.

"My droid? I am the Hero with No fear. She's my wide, I'll be Sith if I let a droid tell my wife about our own son," he said. "You were baiting me, Master," Anakin replied after seeing Obi-Wan's smile.

"Anakin, if I had had a son, I would want him to be like you. I have enjoyed training you very much. I don't imagine I could be closer to a son than I am to you. You bring me much joy."

"Even the pranks I pulled, the trouble I got in."

"Not even, Anakin. Especially. I think I enjoyed them almost as much as you did."

"I apologize Master. I was always too arrogant for my own good."

"Don't forget stubborn. And hard-headed, and disobedient," Obi-Wan chided him.

"At least I didn't get drunk on death sticks," Anakin replied.

"That was one time, Anakin, one time. And who drove me too it by nearly getting us killed on that yellow speeder of yours."

"It wasn't mine, Master. Jedi don't have possessions," Anakin argued weakly.

"Oh, really? Who else would be a fool enough to drive a yellow speeder right out in the open? Everyone one else desired much more neutral colors. You always have to do everything different. You wear black Jedi garb and you drive yellow speeders."

"I'm sorry, Master. But it was the only one with an open cockpit and the right speed capabilities. And why are you picking on my clothes, I'm the one who got married; there must be something about the way that I dress that worked. Besides, black is a very slimming color."

Obi-Wan snorted, "Like you've ever had problems with that," he said rolling his eyes.

Suddenly they both began laughing. "Thanks, Master," Anakin said.

"For what?"

"For getting my mind off, Luke?"

"Is that what I was doing? You still have much to learn, my very young newly appointed master." Anakin laughed again.

"I'm going to talk to Padame, meet me in an hour."

Obi-Wan decided he would explain the different forms of a light saber to Leia. She may need to know, despite what he told Anakin. Instead, Obi-Wan found his goddaughter with her cousins, with a mouthful of cookies. He looked at the height of the counter, and at Leia. He bent down so he was on eye-level with the child. "Leia, what did you do," he said softly. She looked away; he knew she wouldn't lie to him. She was Anakin's daughter. Whenever Anakin had done something he had tried to evade the question, but he had never lied to him. Her next words proved true.

"Where's Daddy?"

"That's not what I asked, Leia. What did you do?" Obi-Wan sighed as she turned those big blues on him. Now that was something Anakin hadn't been able to do. Obi-Wan was getting soft in his old age. "Leia, don't make me get Anakin."

"Well. I just got the cookies."

Obi-Wan had thought so. "Come along, Leia." She held out her hand and he took it. "I'm sorry Uncle Master Obi-Wan," she said, making her eyes wide. "I didn't want too. But Pooja asked me if I always did what daddy said, and I got angry. I shouldn't have. I'm sorry," she said.

"No matter. I want to talk to you about the force." He put her down in a quiet room in the house. He knew Anakin would have a few mediating rooms in his new home. Obi-Wan was glad that Anakin had asked him to stay on with him; he remembered the conversation when Obi-Wan turned him down.

"Master, please. You're a father to me," he had said. How could Obi-Wan say no? Now to the matter at hand. Leia. His own goddaughter.

He got out one of Anakin light sabers. He had never known anyone to make as many light sabers as Anakin. Of course, he had never known anyone to loose as many light sabers as Anakin either. "This weapon is a Jedi's most important weapon. This weapon is their life," he told her, remembering how many times he had told Anakin he couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. "The force is an energy field created by all living things. "The force is life and life is the force," he said watching the young child closely. He saw that she was stifling a yawn, and reached into her mind, reading her thoughts.

"This is boring. When do I get to use a light saber like Daddy?" Obi-Wan pulled back before she realized it. She was very strong in the force.

"There are two sides of the force a light side and a dark side. We all use two aspects of the Force. The Living Force and the Unifying Force…" Obi Wan continued.

Meanwhile, Anakin returned to his wife.

"Angel, Obi-Wan's returned."

She sat up, "He has. Oh, Anakin, where's Luke? Why don't you bring him to me?"

"Luke's not here, my love."

"Why didn't Obi-Wan bring him," she croaked her voice cracking.

"He couldn't."

"Is it Owen?"

"No, it the Emperor."

Her entire face fell, and Anakin felt like his heart was breaking. "What are you going to do?" she asked.

"I will get him back, Padame," he promised.